BLADES PAGE: Goalie Morrison came to Florida for one reason

ESTERO - Mike Morrison has played for three different teams in the NHL, put up gaudy numbers in the AHL and spent last season playing with in Sweden with guys like Peter Forsberg and 2009 NHL No. 2 overall draft pick Victor Hedman as teammates.

So how did he end up in Estero as a member of the Florida Everblades?

The answer is simple. He wants to win a championship.

"I knew it would be a pay cut but money-wise to come here, but I've done well enough that I figured I can play for free here and as long as I'm playing for a good team that has a chance to win a championship," Morrison said. "If we can do that, it would even itself out and I figured this would be a good shot."

After using the first couple of games to find his ECHL bearings, the man who spent parts of two seasons in the NHL (21 games for the Edmonton Oilers in 2005-06, four games for the Ottawa Senators that same season and four games for the Phoenix Coyotes in 2006-07) is finally hitting his stride.

Morrison, 30, said that the adjustment to the style of play has been tough, but as his 3-1-1 record (as of Friday) shows, he's getting the hang of it.

"There's been a little bit of an adjustment to the play, but so far so good. It's different down here in the ECHL. I played in Greenville and Columbus and you just forget what it's like," Morrison said. "You can't come out here and try to play technically sound and pretty. There's not one thing that's sound and pretty out on that ice. You just have to be ready for the unexpected; otherwise you're going to get beat a lot, no matter how good you are."

The acquisition of Morrison was meant to stabilize a position that was in flux late last season and into the playoffs, but the team got a surprise when he arrived for training camp.

"He's an older guy, he's obviously a leader and that's an odd thing, for a goalie to be a leader," said Everblades defenseman Peter Metcalf, Morrison's former college teammate at the University of Maine. "But he's a great goaltender, he's proven, he's established, he's played games in the NHL , and what a lot of people don't know is that he's pretty vocal out there. Guys like that, and that's what we need this year, especially from our goaltender."

Everblades coach Malcolm Cameron said Morrison can be vocal when he needs to be, but he's not one to lose his cool, which is a perfect combination for a goalie.

"He's a very calm guy, he's not a high-strung type of guy and that's due to his experience," Cameron said. "He brings a real calming influence and that's very important in the locker room as well as on the ice."

One thing that did faze Morrison was the prospect of losing his fianceé Elizabeth, who played a pretty big role in Morrison's decision to join Florida.

When he informed her of his decision to accept a contract in Germany, she told him he'd be spending the season all by himself.

"She told me: ‘You can go to Europe, but you're going alone,'" Morrison said. "I didn't want to do it without her. That's not something I was willing to do."

Now, with Elizabeth living in Boston and running her own personal training business and the two planning to marry in July, Morrison can continue to focus on the one thing that's eluded him in his decorated career – a championship.

"She's in her season and I'm in mine," Morrison said. "Now I can take this year, have some fun out there, see what happens and hopefully I'll come home a winner."